"Our needs are identical with labor's needs: decent wages, fair working conditions, livable housing, old-age security, health and welfare measures, conditions in which families can grow, have education for their children, and respect in the community. That is why Negroes support labor's demands and fight laws which curb labor. That is why the labor-hater and labor-baiter is virtually always a twin headed creature spewing anti-Negro epithets from one mouth and anti-labor propaganda from the other mouth."
[1]
- Martin Luther King, Jr.
In 1961, Dr. King delivered a speech to the AFL-CIO's fourth constitutional convention. He acknowledged racism
within the labor movement, but also brought to the audience
's attention that the goals of the
labor movement and
th
e civil rights movement overlap. Both movements sought decent wages, better working conditions, good communities for their families and better education. Today, we continue to benefit from the work of these two movements our everyday lives.
OSHA and workplace safety regulations are the result of advocacy and reform. The eight-hour workday, overtime, weekends off and the right to strike are all products of the labor movement. Unions were typically the organizations that pushed forward these labor agendas.
On February 12, 1968, 1300
sanitation workers in Memp
his walked off the job in protest to the poor working conditions, and
the deaths of Robert Walker and Echol Cole during a garbage compressor malfunction
. The sanitation workers' strike was the intersection of the labor and civil rights movement. As African Americans, their bold declaration "I AM A MAN" affirmed their huma
nity, and their right to better pay and working conditions.
The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) along with local churches supported the strikers by providing them funds to take care of their families, food, protection escorts, and shelter from tear gas attacks.
Modern American workers still find themselves pushing for similar goals including a living wage and the ability to collaborate with employers to create a quality workplace. Activists, politicians and pundits hotly debate issues like the gender pay gap, the working poor and "right to work" laws without reaching a consensus. The question remains how do we substantively address these issues.
[1] Martin Luther King, Jr.
All Labor Has Dignity. ed. Michael K. Honey (Beacon Press: Boston, 2011).
